(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Thanksgiving w/ Albanian Living Magazine

I blogged about the experience here; now you can see what it looked like.

The Calm Before The Storm

I feel like I'm sitting on the cusp of a storm where once I take the next step there will be no going back.  What storm you ask?  The birthday-holiday-moving one.  Sidney's birthday is next week.  Yes, my little baby will turn four two days before Thanksgiving.  He's informed me that at three he is still little but when he turns four he will be a big boy.  And as such, he has some very firm ideas about his cake; chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting of course topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.  Before that he wants to eat bacon and waffles for breakfast then hot dogs and macaroni and cheese for dinner.  (This is not my idea of a culinary good time but he is the birthday boy after all and I told him he could eat whatever he wants).  More importantly, if the weather holds Glenn and I have a very special surprise for our airplane loving boy this weekend.  Yes, I'm stooping to something I had always told myself I wouldn't do and we are celebrating his birthday two days early because it is just easier.  To some people that might make me a bad mom but I'm just trying to be practical and make sure he gets the birthday he wants and deserves.  So if that means it is celebrated early, so be it.  

 

And that is because right on the heels of his birthday comes the annual American food festival called Thanksgiving.  For me, it is the single biggest cooking and food day of the year and it takes time to prepare.  As usual, we're hosting a dinner for friends.  And although our guest list is small (just 8 compared to the 24 of recent years), in a week that is already filled with other non-negotiable commitments, my cooking and preparation time is limited. Somehow even with fewer guests the number of dishes I have planned has increased.  I'm not sure when it will all be cooked but it will.  Because like Sidney's birthday, it has to be done.

 

Once Thanksgiving is behind us December is upon us with her requisite decorating and rounds of holiday parties and dinners at which we will be both guests and hosts.  Gifts need to be selected, purchased and wrapped and another round (or two) of cooking will ensue.  Oh, and did I mention this little thing called an international move that will be taking place in January?  Yes, we need to prepare for that one too.

 

So today I'm stepping back and taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the storm that is to come.  T.G.I.F.  Because once Saturday hits there will be no turning back.  

Everything Will Be All Right

My happy place:  the beaches of Kauai

I've been in another funk recently.  Perhaps it is the weather.  What should be a hot June in the Mediterranean has been anything but.  Days are cool, overcast, and filled with rain with sultry summer days only a distant memory.  I may not love the scorching heat but a little sun now and then would do me wonders.  I know I've been struggling to stay focused on the here and now rather than thinking ahead a few months to when we will move onto our next big adventure.  I'm in the midst of an inner turmoil with changing my personal expectations for myself and the community around me since the only thing that comes from obsessing over what I see are the social faux pas and other as sundry woes around me is sleepless nights (for me) and a sense of profound disappointment.  I continually remind myself that I can only change myself and must learn to accept others for what they are regardless of whether or not I agree with them.  And most of all I haven't been writing; well, I have been writing but have been wisely not publishing my thoughts least I offend or ostracize someone.  (It is really better to keep some of these thoughts to myself for the time being).  On top of all of this I've been feeling that everything I do is obligatory.  Sure I know must go to work if I want to get paid but what about all of those unpaid responsibilities I am expected to take on.  I don't have the option to decide not to attend that reception or host that dinner because I don't feel like it or a better offer comes along (all excuses I've heard from several people over the past few weeks). 

For me (us) the show must go on and as such, we attended a reception on Monday night then hosted a sit down dinner in our home yesterday.  Being out of character for myself, I approached both half-heartedly.  Monday I got dressed minutes before we were to depart and started wondering how long we would have to stay before we even arrived.  (In the end my lack of preparation left me feeling like a frump but I had a great time and, being totally out of character for us, we stayed until the very end).  Yesterday's dinner was planned in the same hasty manner.  Feeling burned out with cooking I succumbed to cooking pseudo-Italian food for a table full of Italians (Early on I had made a vow to never cook the food from our guest's home country but desperate times call for desperate measures).  My one addition to the otherwise Italianesque meal was a chilled cucumber soup which would have been more appropriate if the weather was hot instead of cool and damp.  Minutes before dinner was served I found myself questioning this menu choice and wondering if the lack of a soup course would be noticed.  But the soup quandary wasn't as bad as my opening a container of desperately needed cream only to find that it had turned bad well before its stamped expiration date.  This resulted in a harried phone call to Glenn who went to the store on his way home to pick up fresh supplies. Unsure of what he needed to buy for me, he snapped pictures of possible items for my approval before heading to the check-out line.  All of this ended with my making last minute preparations that did nothing to improve my outlook on the evening. 

But in the end, it all worked out.  We did have a great time at the reception on Monday night and enjoyed that event more than any other we have attended to date.  Yesterday the rain stopped, the puddles disappeared, and for a brief time before it grew dark, the sun even came out.  Pre-dinner drinks were so relaxed and enjoyable that I didn't want to move onto the actual dinner. Dinner itself was perfectly cooked and executed with even the soup, which was initially met with skeptical looks from guests, being consumed with gusto.  Conversation was lively and intellectually stimulating and as I sat back and looked around me I realized that this dinner was so much more than the representational one it had set out to be.  We were amongst friends; people who originally came together for professional purposes but have since achieved a sense of comfort with one another that has moved us to another level.  This was a group where we could discuss topics covering everything from international politics and religion to family and (yes) even the weather.  We ate, laughed, drank, then ate some more.  Guests lingered at the table long after the typical departure time and I didn't mind.  Rather I enjoyed it.

I won't go as far as saying that Albania is my happy place, but in the end it isn't always the location that makes things all right.  The important thing is to carve out your own niche and to surround yourself with like minded people and friends.  Last night I did just that.  And, for good measure, I fell asleep thinking about the beaches of Kauai, my personal geographic happy place.

Anatomy Of A Dinner Party



I was so proud of my non-blue flowers

Tuesday night we hosted yet another dinner in our home.  As is usually the case, the idea starts out small and manageable but ends up ballooning into something else all together.  And true to form, this is what happened. While I can easily execute a formal sit down dinner for six or even eight without blinking an eye, numbers beyond that start to get unwieldy. When Glenn informed me that we would have a total of twelve (yes 12!) guests at the table I had a moment of panic. Sure, I have done it before but it wasn't easy and I certainly didn't enjoy it yet we were heading down that path again.

So what does it take, beyond a dose of insanity, to execute such a dinner in Albania? 

• Plan, Prepare, and Execute:  Not only did I have to think about the dietary restrictions of our guests but I had to consider which items could be made ahead of time and most importantly what ingredients I could readily find in the local stores.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Logistically, determining one's dietary restrictions via protocol offices isn't always easy.  (Apparently while I think this is a necessary inquiry, Albanians find it strange).  On the flip side, since it only took trips to three separate grocery stores to buy all of my food, the actual shopping wasn't as cumbersome as it had been in the past. Either the supermarkets are stocking a better selection of food items or I'm becoming more adept at composing menus that are actually executable.  However, I did have to use my poor Albanian to explain that I wanted my twenty-four veal fillets to be as is and not coated with the heavy coating the butcher insisted was better.  I was proud of myself when this feat was achieved.

• Start early:  On an ordinary night it takes me forever to julienne carrots for our family of three. Try doing this for twelve people.  The same goes with shredding all of the cheese of baked macaroni and cheese, and dicing onions for the a fore mentioned veal. Everything and I mean everything takes that much longer when you are quadrupling a recipe.  I actually started three days ahead of time and still barely finished under the wire.  And larger recipes mean the need for larger pans. I am horrible at eye balling how much will fit in a pan and only learn the hard, and messy, way.  There is nothing like having to change a pot (or two) mid-course in order to make things work.

• Variety is key:  When we first started hosting these dinners I'd go all out with intricate details that would have been impossible for all but the professionals to implement.  The results were rarely pretty.  Now I know my limits (or as Glenn would say, I'm getting better about recognizing them).  Numerous, bite sized dishes multiplied by four just aren't practical as an appetizer.  Soup on the other hand is.  Pureed soups are elegant and can be made ahead of time.  Because the dinner includes several courses, portions don't and shouldn't be enormous.  As guests we feel compelled to eat everything on our plates and all too often we leave the table feeling over stuffed and uncomfortable.  Small portions of different items allow guests to enjoy the variety of flavors without regretting each bite.  Regardless of what I serve prior to the final course, dessert is always decadent.  (Yet another reason to go easy on the earlier portions).  For Tuesday's dinner I served tiramisu; a flavorful dessert that since it gets better with age, can be made ahead of time). To make the presentation a bit more elegant, I served the cake with hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries.  Berries are coming into season here in Albania so not only were they perfectly ripe but the guests were impressed with my efforts.  (Which actually was pretty effortless).

• Count, count, and recount:  From plates specifically for a cheese or dessert course (these are separate plates) or to miniature pumpkin shaped soup tureens and pasta bowls, I have a lot of dishes.  But I have very few items that match in multiples of 12.  We did have 12 place settings of our wedding china but thanks to over exuberant guests at an earlier dinner, we are now down to 11 of certain pieces and as luck would have it, our basic pattern has been discontinued.  This wouldn't be a problem for a normal sized guest list but when you need every single dish and one is missing you have to get creative as to how things will be served.  I found myself re-working the menu in order to be able to use the dishes I did have.  While I wasn't completely satisfied with the plating, I suspect I was the only one who thought twice about the fact the salad course was served from our fruit bowls and the dessert was served from our salad plates.

• Plan A, B, & C:  Last week I decided that mimosa flowers would be the perfect spring centerpiece. They would have been if the dinner had been last week.  By this week the rain had washed away all of the delicate yellow blooms.  At the same time the flowers from our own garden (Plan B) were not quite in bloom, so I had to find yet another alternative.  While Tirana does have numerous flower shops they all seem to specialize in over-dyed blue roses or charge outrageous prices for the simplest of arrangements.  Although real, there is nothing natural about them.  I think of them as the type of plastic flowers my grandmother kept on permanent display behind her plastic shrouded couch.  After several strike- outs I finally found a flower shop that had enough natural colored flowers in stock.  

• Be Flexible:  (This one is really hard for me).  Whether I like it or not, many things are just out of my control.  As has been the case with previous dinners, we didn't have any electrical or water issues during the lead up to the dinner.  When cooking with a single oven I must plan my timing down to the minute.  Dishes go in as others come out; some items can sit while others must be eaten immediately.  All of this works if things go according to plan.  However, when the dinner is perfectly timed yet the guests arrive considerably later than expected, one needs to roll with it.  Beautifully garnished bowls of soup go back into the pot to be reheated and fresh garnishes are substituted.  I had a brief moment of panic but I think the guests were none the wiser.

• Schedule accordingly:  All of the above planning and execution takes time.   I was relieved that we cancelled our plans to go away last weekend since this afforded me the time to grocery shop, set the table, and begin cooking but the timing of Tuesday's dinner was still less than ideal.  I had meetings to attend on Tuesday morning so I had to go into work.  Glenn was out at a business dinner on Monday night meaning I was trying to prepare for Tuesday and feed ourselves on Monday night all while trying to keep Sidney entertained.  This resulted in Sidney's dinner consisting of two slices of  bread and a cup of red orange juice (his request that I was too tired and harried to fight) and my eating tirimisu filling left overs and a lemon-Parmesan madelaine that had fallen on the floor (observing the five second rule of course) for dinner.

So what were the final results?  In the end we all survived.  Our guests arrived (finally), we all ate, and were merry.  Wine was consumed, conversation flowed, and people left with full stomachs.  Glenn told me that because he was an active participant in the dinner's preparations (due in part to my running out of time and scarily wielding a large knife in the kitchen), he now realizes how much work goes into preparing a dinner for twelve.  I was so exhausted after this ordeal that I had to take Wednesday off to recover.  And it was confirmed that I am partially insane for agreeing to do this in the first place.